A would-be terror attacker who planned a mass bombing attack on Melbourne's CBD was caught out by quick-thinking staff at a Bunnings store.
Ahmed Mohamed, 25, from Melbourne entered Broadmeadows Bunnings store in December 2016 and made a purchase that raised suspicion among staff.
He bought 700 nail-gun cartridges filled with gunpowder, which were kept behind a locked counter in the hardware store, The Age reported.
He then left the store without purchasing anything else.
Staff became suspicious and traced Mohamed back to his car and took down his licence plate details, which was later passed on to police.
Police were already monitoring Mohamed and his friends Hamza Abbas, 23 and Abdullah Chaarani, 27.
On November 2, the trio were found guilty by the Supreme Court for plans to carry out a mass bombing attack targeting Federation Square, St Paul's Cathedral and Flinders St Station on Christmas Day 2016.
They were tasked with carrying out the attack by Abbas' brother Ibrahim Abbas, who was reported to have spent two years radicalising himself with Islamic State and al Qaeda propaganda.
The plot was foiled by police who had been monitoring the trio.
At court, Ibrahim said they were 'chopping to kill' and threatened to slice the heads of unbelievers of Sunni Islam.
Ibrahim said in court that he felt completely fine killing Australians because Muslims have been killed in wars involving Australia.
"It's not hard to kill a person with a machete. It just takes one slice to the neck," Ibrahim said in a police interview.
"The bigger the attack, the more terror is achieved and that's the point".
News sources also revealed that the group had been secretly following an extreme Sunni Islam group which aimed to spread the wage of violent jihad across the world.
The group was also said to have a recipe article from the al-Qaeda magazine named "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mum".
The men had been plotting an attack against civilians for months until their arrest in Melbourne CBD.
The trio will be sentenced in the coming weeks.
Newshub.
